Tyson Foods to enter pet food palatant market

Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, Inc. has joined with another company to make pet food flavor enhancers.

The products, known as palatants, are being made under the Palasurance brand in an alliance with Kemin Industries, Inc. of Des Moines, Iowa.

The manufacturing initiative is the result of an alliance Tyson and Kemin formed in 2008 to develop, manufacture, market and sell liquid and dry palatants to pet food companies.

The goal is to provide cost competitive, high quality pet food palatants from the sourcing of ingredients to the food bowl. The new palatant operation is housed at Tyson’s flagship animal protein facility in Scranton (Logan County), which is centrally located to Tyson’s chicken processing plants in northwest Arkansas.

Tyson says production will be a 24-hour operation supported by the Scranton staff and may require jobs to be added in the future. The Scranton facility employs 250 people.